One Final Letter

Dear Grandpa Green,

After 30+ years of weekly letters, I thought writing you a letter might be a fitting way to say good bye.

You have started a new chapter and I truly can't imagine how wonderful that has been for you. I am quite certain the last few hours have been filled with so many happy homecomings and reunions. I like to imagine that you sat down in your chair last night thinking you would take a little nap and suddenly there was a surprise party and you were the guest of honor! I like to imagine that there was tapioca pudding waiting for you and maybe a big, juicy Wendy's hamburger. And maybe your trip to heaven was behind the wheel of a big shiny WWII airplane...that makes my heart happy.

I hope you know how deeply and terribly I will miss you. Today when I got off the phone with my mom, I knelt down in my living room and said one of the most heart felt prayers I have ever offered. I expressed my profound gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the blessing of being your granddaughter. I am so grateful to be a member of your posterity and a recipient of your enormous legacy. I am grateful for the relationship we shared...I have so many happy, wonderful memories with you. I love your incredible sense of humor and the ease with which you would smile and laugh. You have SUCH a happy spirit. I love your soul which was always anxious to serve and bless the lives of others. How many suitcases have you lugged around for me and how many trips to the airport have you made? I bet I would be overwhelmed if I knew. How many Wendy's hamburgers and trips to Rexburg have you provided me? How about the time I bought a new car without selling the old car and had 2 weeks to sell the old car before I had to give back the new car and the old car wasn't worth what I was asking and you called and claimed it would be a tremendous blessing for you if I would allow you to buy the old car? And I let you! You are such a generous, compassionate, caring man!

You and I share a birthday. That has always been incredibly special to me. It made me feel like we had a special connection. I loved that we had the opportunity to celebrate so many birthdays together. I probably never told you how much I loved that. You were one of my very best gifts ever!

I am grateful for the years at Sun Valley and the sacrifices you and Grandma made to make that happen. Those memories are very dear to me. I loved sitting at the fancy table in the lodge with the silver canister of hot chocolate and whipped cream and then having you escort me out to the dance floor for a dance. You have lots of wonderful granddaughters and yet you always had the ability to make me (and each of them) feel like your personal favorite!

I loved that every time I would call you on the phone or walk into the house you would get a big smile on your face, throw your arms open wide and say, "Aimers!" Thinking of that made me sob over a sink of dirty dishes today. I'm going to miss that.

Family dinners just won't be the same. Having you and Grandma there was so important and we were always so flattered that you would take the time and make the long trip to come be with us. That empty chair is going to be hard to look at for awhile.

I love your "Grandpa" sayings...please be neat and don't pee on the seat...colder than a dead Eskimo's nose...busier than a one armed paper hanger...old age ain't for sissies. I loved your stories of the women in the cafeteria and their sacred Diet Cokes. I loved your "Grandma Bea" stories. I loved your stories of serving in the air force and have admired your passion for flying and planes. I love how you always made people feel so welcome and loved and accepted. I always laughed so hard around you.

I loved your perfect hair that in all the years I can remember you never changed. I love that for 20 years I always told people you were 65 years old because in my mind you were. You never changed. Your good humor, your compassion, your thrill and pride in your family...it never changed. I loved that you came to every baby blessing, baptism, birthday, wedding and special event and that you always had your camera ready to go. I loved having you take a picture and then say, "I'll have the 8x10 glossy sent to your door"...and  you always did. I loved that you weren't afraid to learn computers and new things. You have a fearless spirit.

I have always admired who you were and the good choices you consistently made throughout your life. You made the decision to be an active member of the church and to leave that legacy and example to your family. You chose to not be afraid of hard work and accomplished so much professionally. You have served faithfully in every calling and every responsibility. You served several missions and served so faithfully in the temple. You have touched countless lives. I was always amazed at the people who knew you and the wonderful  things they always had to say about the kind of man you were. I love that throughout your life you constantly chose the good...family, the gospel, faithfulness, prayer, service, happiness.

For so many years you sent a weekly letter to every member of the family...and even some "adopted" members of the family. Those letters kept us connected to you and to our extended family in a way that nothing else could have. In a day and age where the art of letter writing is almost extinct, I looked forward to Mondays because in my mailbox every single week, whether I was in Denmark or you were in the Phillipines, there was a letter. You were "blogging" before anyone else knew what blogging was!!! Thank you for the gift of your written word and the weekly expressions of your love. I knew wherever I was I would be found by you through the gift of that letter.

In my daughter's room, above her bed, is the picture you drew when you were in second grade. It has always been my favorite. It is a picture of the little pig carrying straw to build his house. I know your teacher told you it wasn't any good but I think it is brilliant. HB and I look at it frequently and she always says, "Grandpa Green was a really good artist. I bet that is where I get it." Yes my sweet daughter...there is so much of him in all of us. And I desperately want to have my own surprise party someday and find Grandpa Green as one of the guests. You will throw your arms open wide and with a big smile say, "Aimers!" And I hope there will be tapioca pudding.

I am so grateful that I got you all to myself last week for a few precious moments. I'm so glad you laughed and told stories and I got to sit on that ottoman at your side and feel so grateful for you. I'm so glad we read the kid's letters and laughed at their pictures and that when I left, you hugged me really tight and told me how much you loved me. I promise that I will take those small moments more seriously because you never know how priceless they are.

I miss you so much Grandpa. My life has been so blessed because of you. And I am grateful for my absolute testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that I will see you again one day and that we will enjoy the same relationship then that we have enjoyed here. I can't wait.

Hope all is well in your ten acres. SLY.

All my love,
Amy